Occurrence of Pterophyllum in the Parsora Beds, South Rewa, India

Abstract

DURING February–March 1953, a collection of fossil leaf impressions was made by me from several localities of the South Rewa Gondwana basin, including the well-known locality of Parsora, the floral assemblage of which raised a long-held controversy regarding the age of these beds and their position in the Gondwana system of India. The flora will be described in detail elsewhere. In this communication, I wish to record the finding of two specimens of a hitherto unreported frond recalling Pterophyllum. The frond (Fig. 1) is incomplete, pinnate, with a stout and straight rachis measuring 17 cm. in length; 6 cm. in breadth; pinnae linear, closely set, more or less equal in breadth with one exception, attached to the rachis at right angles and by the whole of their slightly decurrent bases; maximum length exposed of the pinnae 10 cm. and average breadth 3 cm.; veins many, averaging fifty, distinct, 0.5–0.8 mm. apart, usually bifurcating close to their emergence, where they take a narrow upward curve and then run parallel to the edge of the pinna, rarely showing bifurcation again.